![[Interview] The Hijabi Kicking It At The Olympics | ProductiveMuslim](https://i2.wp.com/productivemuslim.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ProductiveMuslim-Interview-The-Hijabi-Kicking-It-At-The-Olympics-600.jpg?resize=600%2C400)
Photo Courtesy of Hedaya Wahba
Congratulations on your great performance and winning! How long have you been training and preparing for this moment? What does this medal mean to you?
I’ve been training since I was almost 7 years old. I was always looking up to my older brother who was also a national team member. I used to like the feeling of him winning and me and my family cheering for him. So, I guess I followed in his footsteps and I continued on till I reached the junior national team, and then to the senior national team. I got qualified to London 2012 Olympic games. But, there I lost in the quarter-final and no medal then. So, I continued on training these past four years just for that medal and it means a lot for me. It means that, alhamdulillah, Allah blessed me, and the effort of four years training twice a day, staying away from home (family and friends), getting injured and recovering had finally paid off and Allah
knows the effort I put into it and how much I worked hard, no one knows better!
Did wearing the hijab ever prevent you from following your dream and passion?
I don’t think it ever did and if my sport ever does oppose my hijab I’d defiantly stop playing that sport. But, alhamdulillah, it didn’t and doesn’t prevent me from following my dream. On the contrary, it made me want to win more so that people around the world can see a young Muslim girl with her hijab successfully standing on the podium, and maybe make them wonder why is she wearing hijab. Maybe their curiosity would make them search more about Islam.
What do you say to those who claim that veiled Muslim women are oppressed?
I believe that Muslim women are free more than anyone. Nowadays you see Muslim women working everywhere around the world following their dreams and being successful and achieving their goals. I believe we are free spiritually: we may be veiled but we have free minds and free bodies that we as Muslims choose to cover.
Did your parents play a role in encouraging you to follow your dream? How so? Also, what are the Do’s and Don’t’s for parents when it comes to encouraging kids to take on a sport- in your opinion?
Yes, they (my parents and my brothers) absolutely did. Especially my mom. I remember her always telling me when I was young “you can be anything you want in this world” and she used to wake up early every day just to take me to my 6 am training. As for my older brother, he was almost my ‘personal driver’ when I grew older and started training in the national team. In my opinion, I believe that parents should always encourage their children to do any kind of sport to keep their kids in good health and shape. Not only that, but also to encourage them to continue on with playing sport while finishing their studies. For example, in Egypt, a lot of parents don’t give their children a choice; it’s either education or sport, you can’t have both. But, I believe that you can, if you work hard and put your mind to it and give your best in both. You will get what you want in both. You might even fail sometimes. But, at least you will have tried!
What is your number one productivity tip?
To always give your best in everything you do and to always have good intentions for the sake of Allah in whatever you’re doing.
What do you do to regain focus when you feel down or feel like procrastinating?
A lot of times when I feel down I try to pray or just open the Qur’an and read or when I’m stressing out, especially on the competition day, I listen to the Qur’an, especially Surah Al Fatihah, or sometimes another recitation that I recommend you to listen. It’s on YouTube; search for ‘the most beautiful Qur’an recitation’. The recitation of the Qur’an always calms me down and I try to start over.
Also during the competition day, I had Zamzam water with me and I drank it before almost every match and made du’a.
A word of advice for young Muslim girls around the world?
Always have faith in Allah and in ourselves, and have trust that Allah
will always give us what is the best for us. Sometimes you want something so bad but you don’t get it, only for reasons only Allah
knows. Sometimes you get to see those reasons in the dunya and sometimes not. But I’m pretty sure we will know in the Hereafter – we will find out the reason behind every single thing that happened to us, we just have to trust Allah’s
timing.
How do you balance faith with personal/social/professional productivity?
Balancing is always hard. I have to study, go to my classes and train and at the same try to find some time to read the Qur’an or pray qiyam… So I have like a night ritual that I try as much as possible to follow before bedtime and try to always say the morning and evening du’as. I use my training as a reminder sometimes. While running early in the morning, I would say the morning du’as, or sometimes I listen to the Qur’an or revise surahs I had memorized before. Also, while spending so much time in transportation between college, training camps, and lessons I used to try to read the Qur’an or even study on my rides. It’s not easy and never will be but we have to try. I have also downloaded the weekly taskinator from Productive Muslim and I try to follow it as much as possible. The secret is to never give up and always keep trying to be better.
What’s next for you, in sha Allah?
I’m not sure yet. I just want to finish my college degree and get good grades hopefully. Maybe I will play world championships coming years to become a world champion and an Olympian.
About Hedaya
Hedaya has been playing taekwondo for almost 15 years. She has bagged a bronze in the 2016 Summer Olympics for Egypt and 15 Gold, 13 Silver, and 11 Bronze medals in various African, Arab, and World Championships. She has also won the World Final Grand Prix 2015 where only the top eight in the ranking play with each other. Follow Hedaya Malak on Facebook: @HedayaMalakOfficial
I hope Hedaya Malak’s story has inspired you to stretch your limits. Stay tuned to a more in depth interview with Hedaya on the Productive Muslim podcast! What are the productive lessons you have learnt from her? Share them with us in the comments section below.
Very Inspiring, ma Sha Allah. May Allah give her what is best in dunya and Akhira
Masha Allah… very inspiring article..
I got motivated that with Islam all things are possible insha Allah
Masha Allah. Keep up the good work. You are really inspiration to many.
Subhaanallah, true motivation and it shows having belief in the almighty can take you to many places and achieve all your dreams inshallah
I’ve just read the interview and honestly I find it very inspiring. Mashallah she is a model of successful Muslim girl. May Allah bless her and bless all Muslim girls and Umah. Ameen.
Alhamdulillah! Nothing like trusting Allah and believing in yourself! Add to that perseverance and I think we can achieve any thing. May Allah ease our tasks
Assalamualaikum. Got very much inspired by Hedaya… I know that Islam nowhere prevents muslim women from doing all the halal things…But Hedaya has proved it to the world. Thank you Hedaya for bringing into light the status of muslim women in this world. May Allah always guide you and give you the best in this world and the aakhirah. Aameen…
subhanallah..!! all that at 23…
Assalam alaikum
Alhamdulillah I am very happy to learn the achievements of sister hedaya.
InshaAllah if many more practising Muslimas achieve such success we may wipe out the stigma against veiled women
Well done to sister Hedaya! I saw this on Facebook, her success is a real inspiration for other sisters to look up to.
And also a message to some people from other beliefs that believe Muslim women are oppressed. Contrary, our prophet peace be on him has given them the highest of ranks.
Masha Allahu its very inspiring to read such story. The challenge is our society thinks that sports and education can not go together even for boys in Nigeria.
#Hattsoff to u lady!😊💓
Bismillah.
Alhamadulila… this is a beautiful story. May Allah bless sister Hedaya and her family. By His Will may she be an inspiration to other Muslim sisters. Her dedication is greatly commendable.
The best part of it all is her management/balance/productivity/professionalism…Mashallah.
The only that that worries me is the exposure of a muslim woman to this extent.
Doesn’t it violate the islamic rules of modesty; hijab?
Hijab is an entire system for the muslim female, not only about wearing the hijab to “halalify” sports.
The muslim world has nothing to prove by its females participating in any sport.
Am I the only person who doesn’t think see this as being proper?
I ask Allah to guide myself, you and the entire Ummah and guide us to the straight path and bless us with the correct understanding of islam. Ameen.
fatimabubakr… your concern is my concern as well, lately the media and many have limited the Hijab to just a scarf over the head. But it is much more than that. It is a complete misinterpretation of the Hijab itself. Many dressed in head-to-toe figure hugging clothes and just wearing a head scarf doesn’t make any Islamic. Burkini is one of such completely misguided Islamic dress.
May Allah help everyone of to understand, follow and propagate Islam in its right essence
Jazakallahu khair interviewing a great personality. Very inspirational and so much to learn and gain. May Allah help her in all endeavors for duniyah walAkhirah
Such an inspiring. May Allah give us the same strength.
Excellent!
Hijab curiosity for others to learn more about Islam. I love that phrase. It really is, hijab is who we are and why we are on earth. MashaAllah! May Allah almighty bless you in every field of life. Thanks to productive Muslim organisation as well for bringing such a inspiring articles, don’t want to miss on any of these.
Stay blessed.
The fruit of hardwork, when accompanied with perseverance & prayers, is enormous.
Alhamdulillah she have inspired me greatly now more than ever I want to push the limits follow my dreams and succeed in sha Allah May Allah bless her and her entire family
The story has been very inspiring, as I was reading, thinking about my two girls how they love going swimming.
JazakAllah khair for the story.
Jharna Chowdhury
Ma Sha ALLAH….truly inspirational. And Jazak ALLAHU khair for this wonderful article.
May Allah Subhanah bless her. I hope all muslim girls get inspired from her story. Personally, this article gave me a push and trust on what i’m going to launch soon inshaalah. And she was really right when she said “We just have to trust Allah’s subḥānahu wa ta’āla (glorified and exalted be He) timing” and “never give up”.
Very inspiring indeed!! 😊
U r such an encouragement to all the young muslim women out there ..may Allah bless u and reward u.
SubhanAllah…truly motivating…may Allah give her more and more success in this life and hereafter…what an inspiring true story to narrrate to my two little daughters.
Masha Allah. Great interview by Hedaya. Very inspirational young girl from Egypt who won Olympics medal in Rio 2016. Many Many congratulations.
Off course, our young generation has to keep them as role model & achieve success in their life and attain higher position whatever profession they work for .
I request productive Muslim for more and more professional interviews of different successful personalities Their achievement & tips for success & grow professionally will sure help young professional like me
to make them as role model and move ahead.
Assalamu alaykum!
The Interview is very productive.CONGRATULATION to her.The part which interesting me mostly is how she balance har time I’ll try my level best to balance my time.
I believe that Muslim women are free more than anyone
I believe we are free spiritually: we may be veiled but we have free minds and free bodies that we as Muslims choose to cover.
Very well said, very wise words Hidaya, Muslim women don’t wear clothes as per societal norms but they chose to cover themselves, which says they are mentally and spiritually free rather than other way around
Masha Allah ! It is nice to see the hijabis making us proud in the field like sports.Earlier Parents use to restrict girls from sports because of the unislamic uniforms but with the advent of sports hijabs the things have become much easier. Talking of hijabs, I am prompted me to share this beautiful information which can help other Muslimas in the field of sports : http://islamhashtag.com/sports-hijab/
“The secret is to never give up and always keep trying to be better.” That’s what I should keep in mind.